How many really know about Spanish Inquisition?

Few remember Pearl Harbor. Yet all claim to know the Spanish Inquisition. Do they?

How many deaths during the Inquisition's "350 year" history? Between 3,000 and 5,000. This pales in comparison to the French Revolution's Reign of Terror that murdered 40,000 in a few days. Although glorified by educators, this revolution of the "new" man murdered many Catholic priests (in total, a million Catholics).

Many of the Inquisition myths came from they Protestant propaganda in the Low Countries during the "Vietnam-type" war in the Spanish Netherlands during the 17th century. Dutch Calvinists, added by German and English allies, spared no effort in painting Catholics negatively.

In Foxe's "Book of Martyrs," the Rev. Ingram-Cobbin enlivened later editions with falsehoods. Even Italian Catholics trumped up charges after Spanish troops had intervened in Italy (from 1494 onwards) to check French expansionism. Even today, many so-called "liberal" Catholics embellish myths of the Spanish Inquisition to advance their own selfish personal motives of modernism over traditional truth (witness a recent Pope's apologies).

Let's put everything in perspective. The Communist Red Chinese and the Soviet Union murdered more than 100 million — many times what Hitler did. In America, every third baby is killed by surgical abortion (4,400 a day) — even more by birth control pills and chemical means.

Alongside the blacks persecuted by the Ku Klux Klan and the Know-Nothing Party were Catholics. Catholics filled the Jewish Concentration camps such as Dachau. Lodi has two of the world's most pro-life (pro-babies) people in the world: Mary Kaeler and Lydia Van Steyn — both strong Catholics.

Religion Letters Welcome

Religion Letters Welcome

The Lodi News-Sentinel encourages a wide variety of religion-oriented letters for our Religion section. We also encourage readers to branch out and talk about their own religious experiences and how they reflect their everyday lives in the Lodi area in addition to discussing religious values and biblical passages.
Letters are limited to 350 words, and there is a 30-day limit between publication of religion letters from the same person.
For more information, call News-Sentinel Religion Editor Christina Cornejo at 209-369-7035 or send her an email.